Welcome to our forums!
This online gardening community is different, political, and organic. I decided to start these forums so gardeners would have a free place to discuss heirloom gardening, gene-altered food, seed saving, natural politics and products. We are dedicated to saving our food and horticultural heritage, and hope you enjoy this forum for the free-thinking gardener!
Wishing you great gardening,

Dramaqueen-
I have thick clay soil in the ol backyard-
I had luck with Thyme, Greek Oregano, and Chives last year-
Of course they prefer a looser soil in general, but remember, most herbs are tough!
The plants I planted were fairly established when I transplanted.
I think it would be more difficult to get them to do well in clay direct sown from seed. I'm sure more experienced members will chime in here...

Growing wild, I have two different types of sorrel. Chives do well, mint (grows like a weed & spreads. I grew it one year and it took me the following two years to pull it out!), oregano and parsley have all done well. Basil, marjoram, tarragon, thyme and sage take a little bit of babying, but I get them to grow too. You'll need to add amendments (like mushroom compost, peat moss, or aged cow poo) to the soil. My soil started off as basically clay & shale.

Dramaqueen-
I have thick clay soil in the ol backyard-
I had luck with Thyme, Greek Oregano, and Chives last year-
Of course they prefer a looser soil in general, but remember, most herbs are tough!
The plants I planted were fairly established when I transplanted.
I think it would be more difficult to get them to do well in clay direct sown from seed. I'm sure more experienced members will chime in here...

Hi

Where I have my current herb garden it is the worst part of my yard in terms of heavy clay. Some things have been and are doing well. I wont be sowing from seeds. But I want to extend the herb garden and the area I want to extend it is really awful, worse than where i currently have the others, those are in clay but it was amended a bit not much, as I dig say 6 inches I hit clay and some have died back and some havent. I suppose by spring i will see what lived thru this bitter cold winter and what didnt. Even with amending that area it is still clay and I know they go deep with roots, so they will eventually be hitting clay unless I dit 6 feet and amend which I will not cant afford that. I haev even put loads of gravel and sand int he herb bed now to help it not be such heavy clay. Digging heavy clay is back breaking hard work and to get it right you have to really remoe all the clay but that will take me years. What I may do is dig holes a foot wide foot deep and amend the plant? They will still hit clay even with that but maybe it will help? Do hysspos tolerate some clay?

amend amend amend !!!
I have heavy clay soil too. but unless you amend you will always have issues with herbs. they will grow, but not well and the success rate will vary.. just mix in some straw with compost into the soil... it worked for my veggie garden.. but it took three years.

I have sandy clay soil, yellowish color. I transplanted parsley with big chunk of garden soil (by mistake I bought garden soil instead of potting mix). They did well, then I transplanted them to pot again, now they still grow.
I direct sow dill and basil. For me they do pretty good. But I don't recommend to plant all the pack of basil. Otherwise, you'll have basil more than enough to whole country!
I agree that adding compost to soil will give better result.

Cover the area with your amendments and first put down some shredded newspaper and a layer of cardboard over that...then cover with your compost, leaves, soil, grass clippings, etc. The cool protected soil underneath will invite worms who will further amend and loosen the clay. As the plants set roots, they will help loosen the clay as well. From time to time, take a broadfork (a good investment if you work any sort of clay) and poke it down through the layers and loosen up that clay. Eventually, you will get loose friable soil. Keep layering on as the original layers break down. It is what I have done with some success in hard areas. Much easier on the back.

__________________
Lord, let me be the kind of man that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, "Oh no! He's up!"

Don't take a good woman for granted. Someone will come along and appreciate what you didn't.

"History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." - Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

"We are no longer in a battle of political ideologies; we are in a battle for survival." - Ms. Hill, homemaker and mother of 3; Anderson County Tea Party, July 10, 2009

Dramaqueen, your idea of amending at least a foot down is good. When I lived in Nebraska and we had heavy clay, that is what we did. Made a huge difference. And keep adding that organic matter to the bed afterwards as well. Think herbs that grow in a moister environment as being able to tolerate clay better. (Mints, lemon balm,lime balm, bee balm, comfrey, boneset, blue vervain, Joe Pye) Or herbs that don't have too deep a root system. (thyme, calendula, oregano, violets, spilanthes, fennel, savory)

I have sandy clay soil, yellowish color. I transplanted parsley with big chunk of garden soil (by mistake I bought garden soil instead of potting mix). They did well, then I transplanted them to pot again, now they still grow.
I direct sow dill and basil. For me they do pretty good. But I don't recommend to plant all the pack of basil. Otherwise, you'll have basil more than enough to whole country!
I agree that adding compost to soil will give better result.

I dont mind having a yard full of Basil, however it wont overwinter and always die in the winter. I direct sowed chives but a mistake they got locked down in the clay and didnt hardly do much. What i want are herbs to remain and not be moved. I currently have rosemary, thyme that struggles, hyssop, baldran, mash mallow, germander, marjarom, mountain savory, oregano,santolina, and of course lavender. But I wnat more varieties and with floers but ones that will over winter in the ground

Cover the area with your amendments and first put down some shredded newspaper and a layer of cardboard over that...then cover with your compost, leaves, soil, grass clippings, etc. The cool protected soil underneath will invite worms who will further amend and loosen the clay. As the plants set roots, they will help loosen the clay as well. From time to time, take a broadfork (a good investment if you work any sort of clay) and poke it down through the layers and loosen up that clay. Eventually, you will get loose friable soil. Keep layering on as the original layers break down. It is what I have done with some success in hard areas. Much easier on the back.

Wow, this sounds really good, I will do this as soon as we warm up some. But will I be able to plant there this spring?

When I lived in Ohio- the clay was so thick I could throw pots on the sidewalk. So I chose to to build my beds on top of the soil level because with almost zero percolation, an bed in soil becomes like a bathtub and the plants suffocate.

( now all my larger plants were all selected for their tolerance of clay)

if you want to plant into the native soil, all the previous recommendations will help. I prefer Horse manure because the horse does not digest the plant fiber too much and the digestive juice adds acidity, clay soils usually being alkaline, another reason some plant choices may not be thriving.

Try two work your soil at its driest so that the clumps break smaller and to better incorporate your amendments. IF you can cover the area from spring rain, great. Just uncover after and keep letting it dry. I do a rough dig with a fork to get it started and get the air down in. Work as deep as you can.

The best herbs to choose will be all the mediterranean varieties, many have already be noted, rosemary and sage seem to be absent. Among the lavenders, try to choose the most moisture tolerant as bottom drainage of your bed it still likely to be poor. The Fernleaf variety loves my garden, but I now live in dry clay Arizona.

When I lived in Ohio- the clay was so thick I could throw pots on the sidewalk. So I chose to to build my beds on top of the soil level because with almost zero percolation, an bed in soil becomes like a bathtub and the plants suffocate.

( now all my larger plants were all selected for their tolerance of clay)

if you want to plant into the native soil, all the previous recommendations will help. I prefer Horse manure because the horse does not digest the plant fiber too much and the digestive juice adds acidity, clay soils usually being alkaline, another reason some plant choices may not be thriving.

Try two work your soil at its driest so that the clumps break smaller and to better incorporate your amendments. IF you can cover the area from spring rain, great. Just uncover after and keep letting it dry. I do a rough dig with a fork to get it started and get the air down in. Work as deep as you can.

The best herbs to choose will be all the mediterranean varieties, many have already be noted, rosemary and sage seem to be absent. Among the lavenders, try to choose the most moisture tolerant as bottom drainage of your bed it still likely to be poor. The Fernleaf variety loves my garden, but I now live in dry clay Arizona.

However in Ohio I grew it all very successfully.

Hi and welcome to Idig. I have three varieties of sage and others I just forgot sorry. I will do this, but digging dry clay is like bull work

Digging any kind of clay is... ugh! But, if you can beg/borrow/steal a small tiller it will make it go faster and you can use it to incorporate amendments as well. Just a word of warning- the tiller will be hard on your back and arms, stretch a lot afterwards and treat yourself to a bath.

Barring that, or if the space is too small, use a fork. Or hire a couple of teenage boys who take direction well.

I was by myself and I had to take down an a tree last year and I said "Lord I could really use some help" within 15 minutes, the son of my former tenant came by (why I don't know) with a group of his high school friends. They were like locusts and took down the tree, cut it up and stacked it on the driveway in less than 15 minutes.

Digging any kind of clay is... ugh! But, if you can beg/borrow/steal a small tiller it will make it go faster and you can use it to incorporate amendments as well. Just a word of warning- the tiller will be hard on your back and arms, stretch a lot afterwards and treat yourself to a bath.

Barring that, or if the space is too small, use a fork. Or hire a couple of teenage boys who take direction well.

I was by myself and I had to take down an a tree last year and I said "Lord I could really use some help" within 15 minutes, the son of my former tenant came by (why I don't know) with a group of his high school friends. They were like locusts and took down the tree, cut it up and stacked it on the driveway in less than 15 minutes.

You never know until you ask.

Heehee, I only have girls on my husband#s side of the family and all the girls only have girl friends they ae still not into boys. But I do have husband#s friends who seems strong and young. Will have to ask them or as you said the tiller.